Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah

[TripLeader]

Part Eleven [Hiking Across the Rock]
One day we were out driving and came upon a gigantic canyon off the side of the road. We got out to check it out.

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DoorDing had no reservations about sitting on the edge.

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We took some gear and decided to start hiking to see if we could make it to the floor of the canyon.

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There wasn't any trail. We were just bushwhacking over the open terrain.

 

[coolfeet]

Everywhere you go in this area is amazing. The scenery seems to change around every corner.

 

[TripLeader]

Part Twelve [More Hiking Across the Rock]
We continued the gradual cross-country descent.

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There was quite a bit of water collected in many of the holes.

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[TripLeader]

Beautiful photos. It brings back memories of many trips to Utah. I like going back yearly. My wife likes a different trip every year-no repeats.

Thanks. You make me jealous.
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Everywhere you go in this area is amazing. The scenery seems to change around every corner.

You can say that again.

 

[TripLeader]

Part Thirteen [Even More Hiking Across the Rock]
This was the low point where we stopped.

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We had some gear to descend, but there was not anywhere to tie off a rope.

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We started the task of hiking out.

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This day is one of my fondest memories from the trip. I immensely enjoyed the freedom of desert hiking with two friends in the middle with nowhere with no real destination.

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[TripLeader]

Part Fourteen [The Hole in the Rock]
We took a trip to see the actual "hole."

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For anyone who is not familiar, the Mormons crossed the area in a wagon train in the late 1800s. It wasn't a very good place for that mode of travel. But, they were determined to get through. They found the most suitable place and then blasted it and cut through it to get down to the Colorado River. They crossed and continued on their way.

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Near the bottom of the trail. The Colorado is now dammed and a part of Lake Powell.

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Hiking back up.

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It's hard to imagine, but the Mormons tied their pack animals to the rear of their wagons and went down the trail. It took a group effort to keep the wagons from rolling down out of control.

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None of these photos show it, but there are still places where you can see the pickaxe marks and other signs of the wagon train.

 

[TripLeader]

Part Fifteen [Fiftymile Bench Road]
One evening, we ended up driving on Fiftymile Bench Rd. It was on top of a cliffside that paralleled Hole-in-the-Rock Rd.
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[TripLeader]

That's all for now. More to come later...

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Go for a swim while you were there?

 

[TripLeader]

Go for a swim while you were there?

Nope. Although the weather wasn't bad, it was a bit too chilly.

 

[TripLeader]

Part Sixteen [Rappelling into a Canyon]
Ex-Coloradan was the only one of us that had been to the area before. He directed us to a place where we could rappel into a canyon and check out some more slots.
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Getting some equipment sorted out.

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The descent.

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Lowering our packs.

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And we entered the canyon.

 

[TripLeader]

Part Seventeen [Exploring the Canyon]
We followed the slot downhill.

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We came to a ten foot drop-off.

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We used some rope to descend safely.

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Continuing on.

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[TripLeader]

Part Eighteen [Continuing in the Canyon]
We did not run into much standing water in any of the slot canyons during the entire trip, but we found some mud.

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We ran into another drop-off that went into a pool of water. (I know, I know--I just said we did not see that much water.) We called that the end of the canyon for us and headed back out. As we got closer to the exit, I thought I found a place where I could scramble up the wall and get out. I made it 90% of the way up, then got "cliffed out" by an overhang above me. I didn't feel good about climbing down what I had just come up. I was worried I'd slip and break my leg. The other two went ahead without me. They came back on the rim of the canyon and lowered a rope down to me.
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Here we are hiking back to the truck on the canyon rim.

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Looking out over the area near where we had been.

 

[TripLeader]

Part Nineteen [Devil's Garden]
We made an evening stop to see the rock formations at Devil's Garden.

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I probably didn't need to put this many photos of it in the report, but oh well.

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[TripLeader]

Part Twenty [Bonus Stop No. 1]
On the way back home, we made two quick stops.
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The first was at Bryce Canyon... Wow.

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We didn't have a whole lot of time to spend there, so we basically just gawked over the scenery from above.